Whale Watching with Newport Coastal Adventures
We have Monterey Bay to thank for raising the bar, but it turns out Orange County has been holding out on us. We’ve gone whale watching in OC many times, and really just often leave with very distant sightings or… dolphins. We felt like we changed our luck with Blue Ocean, so thought we’d try our luck closer to home. We’ve wanted to go out with Newport Coastal Adventures for a while, so we booked two seats with them! They have a coo boat called the Pelican, so that felt like good mojo. Our captain and guide were both women who clearly knew these waters, and the trip they put together was the best one we’ve had in Orange County!
The scale of a smaller boat changes the experience. You are much closer to the water, so when something happens, it happens right in front of you. On this particular trip, quite a lot happened!
Humpback Whales
We had seen lunge-feeding Humpbacks up in Monterey Bay, but never before in are our local waters.. They breached too, full body out of the water, and threw in some tail slaps for good measure. It was a fantastic performance.
The Western Gulls working the surface during the lunges added a chaotic edge to the whole scene. They were diving in to grab anchovies at the exact moment the whales were coming up, which is a great strategy… until it isn't. One gull got caught in the mouth of a whale mid-lunge! Thankfully the whale noticed and spit the bird out! The gull appeared fine, for what it's worth, and seemed no less interested in anchovies afterward. But the whole boat was thoroughly entertained by its misfortune in that moment.
Ocean Sunfish
A Mola Mola finning at the surface is one of my favorite moments on a boat. They are enormous, flat, and have huge eyes. They also tend to suck or blow bubbles on the surface of the water. This one was just drifting at the surface the way they do, soaking up warmth, completely unbothered by the presence of the boat. I never get tired of seeing them.
Dolphins
Common Dolphins and Eastern Pacific Long-beaked Dolphins both showed up. California Sea Lions rounded out the marine mammal list, doing their usual convincing sea puppy impressions.
Birds on the Water
Sooty Shearwaters and Pink-footed Shearwaters were out on the water, the same reliable offshore mix we saw up in Monterey. California Brown Pelicans cruised the surface in their unhurried way, and Western Gulls were everywhere.
The best bird surprises came on a kelp bed. A California Least Tern was resting there, small and sharp-billed, far enough offshore to feel exciting to see. I spend most of my summers monitoring California Least Terns for California State Parks as part of the endangered shorebird program, so finding one out on the water rather than at a nesting site has a different feeling to it. A Forster's Tern was resting nearby on another kelp bed.
In the Harbor
Clark's Grebes and Western Grebes were floating around in the harbor before departure.. A Double-crested Cormorant was posted on a buoy.
It is easy to assume that world-class wildlife watching requires a long drive or a flight somewhere. This trip was a reminder that sometimes it is sitting right offshore, waiting.
If you have been out on the water with Newport Coastal Adventures or spotted whales from the Orange County coast, I would love to hear about it! These local waters keep surprising us.
